Whose War Is It?

Monday, March 9, 2026

Some movies can be watched over and over and over again.  Otto Preminger’s In Harm’s Way is one of those movies for me.  There are a lot of plots and subplots in the film and it focuses much on the politics in wartime.  John Wayne’s Rock Torrey, the chief protagonist of the film, is a war fighting Navy man through and through.  This personality had cost him a marriage to a “high society” woman that wanted him out of the Navy and in the boardroom.  During the film he discovers his son, who he has not seen for a long time, in the service acting as an assistant to a Congressman out for glory anywhere but on the battlefield.  In one confrontation, his son refers to WWII rather derisively as “Roosevelt’s War.”  I thought of that every time I saw a headline this past week talking about “Trump’s War.”  And that has been often.

An aphorism like “Trump’s War” or “Roosevelt’s War” is meant to be a cute way of saying that it may be a war the president wants, but it is not a war the American people want.  It is a phrase of the privileged and those that believe themselves “elite” in some fashion.  But as we learned yesterday, elitism is an illusion behind which hides the same faltering humanity we all bear.

Does anyone ever really want a war?  I don’t think anyone that understands war wants one; be they the president or Joe Six-pack.  War is never to be desired.  But war is reality, sometimes necessity.

Over the weekend, Iran doubled down on the terrorism on which it has operated for some 50 years.  Under constant and heavy bombardment, with much of its fighting capacity crippled or destroyed, Iran chose a new leader just like the old – announcing its intention to keep murdering people by the thousands and paying for others to do so as well.

In my adult lifetime, first the Soviet Union and then China have been bigger threats, but Iran has been the most active.  They have murdered Americans, Israelis, and their own in horrific numbers.  As I have said before, the name “Khamenei” belongs on a short list with the greatest mass murders in history – names like Hitler, Stalin and Mao.  Are we supposed to sit idly and let such monstrosity continue unabated?

The Iranian regime is at it weakest since its founding and growing weaker by the moment.  We have the opportunity, the time is now.  We may not want war, but the simple fact of the matter is this is the time for war like it or not.  This is not “Trump’s War,” this is our war whether we want it or not.

There is only one force on the planet that can defeat the United States military and that is the United States public.  The choice is simple.  We support this war, we defeat this utter and heinous evil and make the life of every person remaining on the planet better.  Or we keep talking about “Trump’s War,” leaving our military in a lurch – abandoning the people that willingly and cheerfully fight for us, and permitting them to lose.  And if they lose you can count on that murderous evil to once again begin murdering – in ever larger numbers.

Spare me your wine-sipping, quinoa munching, pinky-finger-raised references to “Trump’s War.”  You are not better than me, smarter than me or more important than me.  You are a coward unwilling to stand for decency and good.

No one wants war, but this is the time for war, want it or not.  Let’s go win it.